New commissions at EMPAC combine video, digital technology, theater technology and performance

EMPAC DANCE MOViES Commission supported by the Jaffe Fund for Experimental Media and Performing Arts

EMPAC — the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute — is launching the EMPAC DANCE MOViES Commission, a new commissioning program, to support the creation of new works in the field of experimental dance for the screen.

Through the DANCE MOViES Commission, EMPAC is specifically targeting artists based in North America and South America to encourage the development of the genre of dance film and video. The DANCE MOViES Commission will fund several projects per year with awards in the range of $8,000 - $50,000.

As construction on the EMPAC facility continues apace, the program of EMPAC is growing. Establishing itself on campus and nationally as a unique university-based arts center for innovation, research and performance, EMPAC is already presenting performances, lectures, and screenings on the campus of Rensselaer, and has begun several initiatives for new commissions and research initiatives. With the announcement of the Jaffe Fund for Experimental Media and Performing Arts in June 2006 for new commissions and performances, EMPAC has decided to earmark funds for a commission in the cross-disciplinary genre of dance films.

With the announcement of the Jaffe Fund for Experimental Media and Performing Arts in June 2006 for new commissions and performances, EMPAC took the initiative to create a commissioning program in the cross-disciplinary genre of where dance meets the technologies of the moving image. EMPAC's Commission will be the first major commissioning program available to dance film artists in the US, and is likely to have a significant national impact, as there are currently very few commissioning or grant programs nationally that target dance films.

EMPAC's mission

Dedicated to advancing research and artistic production at the intersection of technology, media and the performing arts, EMPAC is poised to be a major contributing force in many artistic and technological domains. A main focus and major emphasis at EMPAC is the development and production of new works in the performing and media arts. Projects, residencies and productions at EMPAC will come from all domains of time-based arts, including but not limited to video, dance, music, theater, internet art, DVD productions, interactive installations, and multimedia art. Some pieces that are created or presented at EMPAC may grow out of the media-rich environment of EMPAC and could travel to other venues, nationally and internationally, others works may be site-specific to EMPAC.

As a facility and an environment, EMPAC will serve as a magnet to artists in a wide variety of time-based disciplines - performance, theatre, dance, music and film/video. Once the facility of EMPAC is completed, artists will be given residencies and commissions which include a rare and powerful combination: time to experiment in performance and production spaces of the highest quality combined with a technologically advanced infrastructure. As part of its mission to support artistic production with resources and facilities which are project-specific, EMPAC will provide access to equipment, expertise, rehearsal space, research, or other support as part of a commission, according to the needs of that project.

In advance of the opening of the facilities and the building in 2008, EMPAC has already initiated commissions for new works. The DANCE MOViES Commission will commission several dance films per year, and the films will be premiered on campus. Until the opening of EMPAC these commissions do not have a residency component, however once EMPAC is open as a building, the artists may have access to EMPAC's spaces and technology to create their works as part of the Artist-in-Residence program. The possibilities range from the use of EMPAC's unique spaces, digital or theater technology, and professional video and audio editing, mixing and mastering suites. Artists could take advantage of the black-box studios for a video or film shoot, the theater's computer-controlled rigging systems for flying effects, or could partner with an academic department on campus for a collaboration. They could use the audio suite to master their sound, record the music for their film in the concert hall, and use the video suites for editing and post-production. The possibilities of how a dance film team could use EMPAC's facilities are broad and would be tailored to each project proposal. What is unique in the DANCE MOViES Commission is the eventual possibility, once EMPAC opens as a facility, of offering not only a commission award, but also advanced technology to create the work.

The possibilities of how a dance film team could use EMPAC's facilities are broad and would be tailored to each project proposal. Artists could use EMPAC's unique spaces, digital or theater technology, professional video and audio editing, mixing and mastering suites. Artists could take advantage of the black-box studios for a video or film shoot, the theater's computer-controlled rigging systems for flying effects, or could partner with an academic department on campus for a collaboration. They could use the audio suite to master their sound, record the music for their film in the concert hall, and use the video suites for editing and post-production.

What is unique in the DANCE MOViES Commission is this eventual possibility: once EMPAC opens as a facility, artists are offered not only a commission award, but also advanced technology to create the work.

DANCE MOViES as a genre

DANCE MOViES at EMPAC started as an ongoing series of screenings. The works shown in the DANCE MOViES series and supported by the DANCE MOViES Commission are experimental works for the screen which vary widely in content and form, yet are united by the fact that the image on the screen was crafted by, or in collaboration with, a choreographer or movement-based artist.

The works span a large range, include film, video, and other audio-visual formats, and tend to be from 2 minutes to 30 minutes in duration. Some of the works may be narrative-driven, using the conventions of filmic story-telling; some may be abstract works which mine the inherent sympathies between the time-based, visual aspects of both dance and film; some may not even feature "dance" as is generally defined, but contain a powerful sense of how movement unfurls in time, and how we create meaning from the dance of images; some may take advantage of tools such as computer processing, motion capture, simulation, animation, image processing, and post-production technologies and some may extend the confines of the single screen to multiple screens or projections. EMPAC DANCE MOViES screenings and commissions do not include documentaries, feature-length films, or commercial films that feature dance.

Not only do content and form vary in the dance films EMPAC supports, but so do the methods of creation and distribution. They may be created by an individual artist or may require a large complex collaborative team comprised of a choreographer, composer, filmmaker, dancers, actors, film and post-production crew. They may be commissioned, supported by grants and/or artist residencies, or created on a shoe-string budget. Some works may be created to be viewed as an interactive DVD, some are made for TV, while others are to be seen projected in a movie theater.

However the artists create or present their work, the defining characteristic of the dance film remains that it is an audio-visual work made by dance artists, with all the richness and potential of that specific medium meeting the choreographic eye.

Goals for the DANCE MOViES Commission

EMPAC's DANCE MOViES Commission will offer artists the opportunity to produce a dance film, to experiment with technology and will be one of the few sources of support for this genre of work in the United States.

EMPAC's goals in launching this commission program are:

To have a significant impact on the advancement of the dance film genre
To create an opportunity for artists to make new dance films with the support that high quality artistic productions require
To increase the international visibility of choreographers, dancers and filmmakers who are based in the Americas
To offer artists the chance to work in technologically advanced spaces (upon completion of the facilities of EMPAC)
To encourage artists and celebrate the diversity of artistic work throughout the Americas

The EMPAC DANCE MOViES Commission will be conducted as a competitive open proposal process, where eligible artists will be able to submit a proposal for their film idea. The initial proposals will be reviewed and a small number of artists will be invited to submit a detailed proposal to an international panel. The panel will assess the quality and feasibility of the proposed project and will submit its recommendations to EMPAC. The commissions will be awarded by EMPAC after review. All selection decisions are final.

Upon awarding of the commission, the artist or collaborative team has one year to complete the project, at which point it will be premiered at EMPAC, and shown at dance film festivals around the world, credited as an EMPAC DANCE MOViES Commission. There may also be broadcast and internet distribution opportunities. The rights of the project remain with the artist or team, with EMPAC having the option to retain the rights of first publication and premier.

Contextualization of the DANCE MOViES Commission: Historical, contemporary and future perspectives

Although EMPAC is focused on new works both in its ongoing DANCE MOViES series and for the DANCE MOViES Commission, dance films have a long and rich history which parallels the history of film. Back in the 1940s, an avant-garde American filmmaker, Maya Deren, brought dance to the film experiments of the day. Her works are among the first to combine dance and film as an art form, in conscious contrast to the commercial aspirations of Hollywood, and pushed the fledgling art of modern dance into the forefront of the experimental film world. Throughout the 20th century, choreographers have created works for the camera, forging strong collaborations between filmmakers and choreographers, such as those between Elliot Caplan and Merce Cunningham, or Thierry de Mey and Anne Theresa de Keersmaker, resulting in masterful combinations of dancemaking and filmmaking.

In the past 10 years, there has been an explosion of interest in dance films by both artists and viewers, resulting in the launching of a wide array of international dance film festivals. There has also been a rise in the number of universities and arts centers offering classes in the making of dance films. This may be related to a general rise in interest in the audio-visual domain coupled with the gradual accessibility of the technology required to make and view experimental film works. For example, with video technology, artists can now shoot, edit, and distribute their own works. However, there has not been a concomitant rise on the side of support for new work: grants and commissioning programs for new dance films and experimental dance videos are few.

Some of the most visible and successful international commissioning programs for dance films are those which partner with television production and distribution, such as the commissions initiated and produced by Bob Lockyer at the BBC in the UK. Over the course of three decades, the BBC program jump-started Britain's current dominance in the field, in terms of numbers of films produced of consistently high quality. It also brought contemporary dance to a much larger audience than had ever seen it before. In Canada, where there is an active and successful grant program for dance films through a governmental arts funding body (BRAVOFact!), there is also a significant number of films produced and shown each year.

In the United Stated and elsewhere in the Americas, although there are opportunities to see dance films at the myriad international dance films festivals, or study dance films in school, there is now very little in the way of commissions or grants to support the creation of new work. The Dance Films Association, based in New York, is one of the few nationally visible organizations offering post-production grants specifically for dance films. Of course, artists may apply to various funding bodies that offer grants for a range of disciplines, such as the Creative Capital Foundation or NYFA (New York Foundation for the Arts), however these are very competitive grants that cover such a range of work that as pool it cannot be said to be a significant source of support for dance films. As a result, there are not many dance films created in the U.S. which have the support needed to compete with their non-U.S. counterparts. Even U.S. festivals tend to feature work from outside the U.S. with awards going almost exclusively to foreign artists.

As is well documented in studies by Dance/USA and other US arts advocates, there is a need for educational and arts institutions to bridge the gap left from ever-shrinking federal and foundation support for the creation of new work in the performing and visual arts. EMPAC is an arts institution within the context of a research university, combining the strengths of both. By offering artists multi-tiered support in the form of commissioning awards, residencies and technologically advanced spaces, EMPAC will undoubtedly have a strong and positive impact on the creation of innovative new works at the intersection of art and technology.

— Hélène Lesterlin
Dance Curator, EMPAC
November 1, 2006

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